


Stocking

by Dellefox



Series: Pridecember 2020 [10]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Atem is short, High School AU, Kaiba attempting to flirt, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Prideshipping, This isn't about Christmas stockings or nylons, YGOPridecember2020, Yami Yuugi | Atem Has His Own Body, sorry about that, ygopridecember
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28046187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dellefox/pseuds/Dellefox
Summary: YGO Pridecember Prompt: StockingAtem's height(or lack thereof) makes some aspects of his job at the game shop difficult. Good thing Seto Kaiba just happened to stop by the game shop. Prideshipping, Pre-relationship, high school AU. Featuring Atem being literally carried around the shop and very bad attempts at flirting.
Relationships: Atem/Mutou Yuugi, Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi, Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi | Atem
Series: Pridecember 2020 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037481
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	Stocking

**Author's Note:**

> ‘Stocking’ was the assigned prompt, presumably for the holidays. But there was no restriction on to to interpret the word so.…here we are. >:)
> 
> We’ve returned to the high school AU! This is set pre-relationship. 
> 
> Inspiration for this came from this post by the amazingly talented Onenatroll on Tumblr: https://bit.ly/3nkKfDu Seriously their artwork is absolutely gorgeous and there’s ton of beautiful prideshipping art. <3 
> 
> Writing Yami Malik/Marik was the biggest challenge for this and I’m continuing to struggle with it. I can’t exactly portray him as his usual canonical psychopathic self, so I’m really having to peel back the layers of his personality to see what’s left to work with. 
> 
> If you squint reeeeeeally hard you’ll be able to catch Seto’s very, very subtle flirting.  
> Ages:  
> Atem – 15  
> Marik - 15  
> Seto – 16  
> Mokuba - 5

_August 1997_

Domino City was in the throes of a heat wave.

Temperatures were shooting up to 38 degrees Celsius. The pavement was scorching, and the game shop was quiet, with most of the general populace opting to stay indoors where there was air conditioning and ice, or flocking to beaches and water parks to stay cool.

Suguroku, never one to let a lack of shop traffic get him down, saw this as an opportunity to rearrange the store. They closed for two days. The entire shop was inventoried and cleaned from top to bottom. Marik and Atem lugged display cases, shelves, and countertops all over the shop floor until Suguroku was happy with the results. Everything was put back into its rightful place, and somehow the shop felt bigger afterwards.

Atem was given the task of stocking the tallest displays, which were well out of reach of his five-foot frame. He’d yet to encounter anything resembling a growth spurt and normally he didn’t care, but as he stretched and reached and sometimes jumped to put stock back where it belonged he started feeling more than a little annoyed. But Bakura and Ryou were visiting family in London during the school break, and Marik was taking credit recovery classes in order to avoid failing out.

On a particularly high leap, he lost his footing as he landed, reached out from habit to grab a countertop that was no longer there, and stumbled headlong into something tall, warm, and a bit sweaty. The thing caught him halfway to the floor, yanked him back up, and held him tightly to keep him from toppling headlong into the front door while he regained his balance. 

He looked up into a pair of electric blue eyes that were scowling down at him, annoyed. Those eyes could only belong to one person. 

_Shit,_ he thought. 

Literally stumbling into his rival/crush/person he hung out with occasionally was _not_ how he wanted his day to go.

“What are you doing?” Seto asked flatly.

“I…well…” Atem felt his face get quite hot, and he was positive his tanned complexion was doing absolutely nothing to hide it. “I’m restocking the high shelves but I’m fucking _short_ so it’s proving difficult.”

“Do you not have a ladder? Abbreviated stature appears to run in your family. What do your little brother and grandfather do when they need to reach something?”

Atem’s stomach churned and his brain appeared to be in a dormant state, because words were leaving his mouth, _stupid_ words, and he was powerless to stop them.

“My grandfather is using the ladder at the moment. He’s in the stockroom, which is why it isn’t out here.”

 _You idiot,_ he thought to himself. _He’s going to think you’re a moron. Who am I kidding, he_ already _thinks you’re a moron. Wait –_

“Why are you here?” he asked.

Seto raised an eyebrow. “You sell Duel Monsters cards, do you not? Or did you sleep through the new expansion release?”

_Oh my god I am absolutely a fucking moron._

“I was awake for it.”

_Our top story tonight: High school student and aspiring duelist Atem Mutou has the IQ of a damp sea sponge. More at 8._

“Can you direct me to where they might be?”

“Uh, yes. They’re…” he scanned the shop’s now unfamiliar layout, trying to remember which shelf the booster packs had been moved to and which counter held the individual cards. _He’s never going to talk to me again. This is it. We’re never hanging out again. I’m going to have to quit dueling. I may even have to transfer out of school. I'll have to go into hiding._

He then realized that his arms were still around Seto’s neck. More importantly, Seto’s arms were still firmly encircling his waist. His mouth was suddenly dry. Seto appeared to be unbothered.

“I…I’ll need to detach from you so I can unlock the case,” he said carefully. Seto slowly moved his hands off Atem’s waist, and Atem regretfully unwound his own embrace.

“Lead the way.”

Grabbing the display counter keys gave Atem the opening he needed to reacquaint himself with the new shop layout, and he successfully guided Seto to the booster packs, starter decks(“my five-year-old brother could build a better deck,”), and individual cards. Seto busied himself flipping through pages of the rarest cards and studying their attributes, and Atem went back to attempting to restock the high shelves. Most of the Diablo figures he could place if he jumped high enough, as well as the actual boxed copies of the game itself. But the last copy proved to be problematic. He managed to shove it into the shelf, but landed leaning too far back and for the second time that day, found himself being saved by Seto. Atem hadn’t even realized he’d moved from the counter.

This time Seto caught him from behind, hooking an arm around Atem’s shoulders to keep him from falling backwards while the other arm held his hips. Atem was much too aware of the fact that Seto’s chest was pressed into his back.

_I could get used to this,_ he thought. _Wait, what the fuck am I saying? No! Stop that!_

“Honestly, you’re going to give yourself a concussion,” Seto said. Atem felt his deep voice rumble through his spine. “I can’t allow you to sustain brain damage. Defeating you in the next tournament won’t be very fun if you’re impaired.”

“I could get the chair,” Atem mused.

“The one behind the counter? It has wheels that don’t lock. From what I’ve seen today you don’t appear to have the coordination to stay on it without falling off.”

Atem noted that just like earlier, Seto wasn’t letting go of him. He felt is brain go slightly fuzzy. He blamed it on Seto’s cologne.

“There has to be a good reason you haven’t borrowed the ladder.” Seto was as unbothered now as he was before, making no move to let go of Atem even after he dared to reach a hand up to wind his fingers around Seto’s forearm. _Oh my god his arm is real…what is_ wrong _with me!? Focus!_

“I told you, my grandfather is using it. We both have a lot to put away, he needs the ladder more than me. Do you have a better idea?”

“Always.” Atem bristled internally. Of course Kaiba had to get in at least one jab. He released Atem, but not without brushing his and against Atem’s first. He moved closer to the display and knelt down, threading his fingers together, palms facing upward. “Give me your foot,” he instructed.

Atem gently placed a sneakered foot into Seto’s cradled hands.

“Now use my shoulders for balance. You need to put more weight into my hands or it won’t work. For fuck’s sake, I’m not going to drop you.”

Atem followed Seto’s instructions. He was able to lift Atem, but his hold wasn’t as steady as he thought it would be and Atem couldn’t reach very far without losing his balance. Seto put him back down.

“Now what?” Atem asked.

Seto crossed his arms and sized him up. After a few seconds of deep thought, he knelt back down again. “Give me your leg.”

“What?”

“ _Give me your leg._ ”

Atem stepped forward. Seto wrapped one arm around his right thigh, and the other tightly around his waist. He hoisted him up while Atem kept his arms on Kaiba’s shoulders for balance, but found he didn’t really need to. He also realized he was much higher up than their previous attempt.

“Can you balance?” Seto asked.

“I…” Atem reached for a shelf with both arms without so much as a wobble. “Yes.”

“Good.” Seto put him back down. “What needs to go up next?”

“I have these,” Atem said, pulling a cart full of various figures, plushies, and board games.

Seto gripped Atem once again, letting Atem grab what he needed before lifting him back up. They continued on for the next hour, taking breaks when needed. Atem made repeated failed attempts to ignore how toned Seto’s figure was, how effortlessly he was being lifted around the shop, and how nice Seto’s arm felt cinched against his waist.

“Hey, Mutou! I brought the stepstool – jeezus!”

Both were startled by Marik’s sudden arrival. Seto temporarily lost his grip on Atem, but caught him on the way down, just as they were eye level. In a split second, they locked eyes, and Atem swore he saw Kaiba flash a playful smirk and an eyebrow quirk before delicately placing him back down. Atem leapt away and busied himself with organizing the cart.

“Ishtar,” Seto greeted him. He straightened the hem of his shirt.

“Did I…interrupt something?” Marik asked warily.

“You need another ladder,” Seto replied. “And Atem needs a growth spurt but that appears to be an unlikely possibility.”

“Hey!” Atem shot back. “I’ll happen!”

“You have a better chance of drawing enough cards to summon Exodia.” Seto walked back to the counter. Marik took over stocking duties from Atem and Atem headed behind the register. “Did you find any good cards?”

“I did.” Seto picked up a small pile he’d set aside. The cards were smooth and crisp, shiny in their protective cellophane sleeves. “I shouldn’t let you see them, lest you try to counter them.”

“You know I’ll find a way to offset them anyway.” Atem felt himself relax a bit. _This_ was where he was most comfortable with Seto, verbal sparring and taunts that were becoming milder with each encounter. He rang up Seto’s purchase, packed the cards gently into a box, and handed it to Seto along with the receipt. Seto was staring pointedly at Atem.

“Is there a problem?” he asked.

“Your contact lenses. They’re red.”

“You’re very astute.”

“It’s a good color on you.” Seto took the box.

“I…thank you.” Atem felt his stomach start to somersault again. “And thanks for helping me today.”

“Hn.” Another quick flash of a smirk, and Seto sauntered out the door. Once he was sure he was out of the taller man’s line of sight he sunk to the floor, resting his back against the counter. His heart was pounding. His palms were sweating.

_Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god –_

”What the fuck just happened?”

Marik peered over the counter and down at Atem.

Atem ran his hands through his backcombed, unruly hair. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

“He was _carrying_ you.”

“He was _helping_ me. Jii-chan’s using the ladder in the storeroom. I couldn’t reach the shelves. I kept jumping to try and reach them and –“ he wasn’t sure if he wanted to share any more details.

“Why was he here though?”

“Because we sell Duel Monsters cards. Why else would he be here? Maybe he happened to be on this side of town for some reason.”

“Because there’s like three other game shops that are closer to his McMansion,” Marik remarked. “And yet he chose to come out here. Without Mokuba. Call me crazy but I think he might want into your pants.”

“That’s preposterous!” Atem spat. He wasn’t about to let any more false hope wander into his mind today.

“Let’s not forget he just spent his previous spare time _carrying_ your short ass all over the store so you could reach the top shelves. And he noticed your contacts. He was _flirting_ with you. And don’t give me any shit about how he couldn’t possibly be because you’re short or a kōhai or whatever. I’ve seen the CDs and posters he keeps in his locker and the books he reads. You’re his type. He’s clearly not into girls, and he’s got piercings. You just haven’t noticed them because we can’t wear them at school. For fuck’s sake, look at his dueling outfits.”

Atem hadn’t paid much attention before, but it dawned on him that Marik did have a point. During their duels, Seto’s aesthetic bounced back and forth between visual kei, punk rock, and heavy metal. It was mostly polished and sleek, even when he wore distressed shirts and pants. What had Seto been wearing today? A pair of faded, chewed-up black jeans, black combat boots, and a bleached, ripped Metallica shirt. And, Atem realized, a hint of smudged black eyeliner. _And an eyebrow ring._

Atem’s mind wandered back to earlier, when Seto had caught him mid nose-dive. He’d caught him and he _didn’t let go._ _For several minutes._ It happened _twice._ The smirk and the quirked eyebrow flashed through his mind again and he could almost feel Seto’s arm back on his waist. His felt like his heart might leap out of his throat to join the display he couldn’t reach.

He could smell Seto’s cologne on his shirt, and a hint of sweat. He liked it.

He decided he was never washing the shirt again.

“For fuck’s sake, you’re going to catch flies,” Marik admonished. “Close your mouth, Mutou.” 

~-~-~-~

The next morning Suguroku found a new stepladder accompanying the morning delivery of inventory, along with a note addressed to Atem.

“Did you know anything about this?” he asked. “I’ve been meaning to get a second ladder now that you’re working in the shop more, but I don’t remember telling anyone.”

Atem was sure his stomach was doing backflips. “No,” he stammered. “I mean, I don’t think so. Who sent it?”

“It was an anonymous delivery. But there appears to be a note for you, Atem. Here.”

He handed the envelope to Atem. The envelope was navy blue, and he was so very thankful his grandfather hadn’t seen the bright silver KC logo embossed on the front. He took the envelope up to his room and ripped it open. Inside was a card, with a Blue Eyes White Dragon on the cover, embossed with silver in the same style as the envelope.

_You might beat me at dueling(for now) but I still hold the record on every game at Domino Arcade. I want to see how close you can get to my high scores._

_Call me._

Atem stared down at the phone number written at the bottom of the card. Was this a date? Was Marik right? Had he actually _been_ flirting with Atem in his own weird way? There was only one way to find out.

Atem took a deep breath, walked back into the shop, and grabbed the cordless phone. 

**Author's Note:**

> 38 degrees Celsius is roughly 100 degrees fahrenheit, and for Tokyo that is much hotter than normal. Tokyo and its neighboring areas normally see temperatures at around 90.
> 
> In order to preserve Atem's Egyptian ethnicity, I've made himself and Yugi half-brothers. They share different fathers. Atem's father is Egyptian, Yugi's is Japanese. 
> 
> I've worked through the worst of my burnout and now I'm starting to like what I'm writing again. I'm finally starting to get a timeline together for this AU and I'm excited about how it's all coming together. 
> 
> Not sure which prompt I'm tackling next, I have a bunch of half-finished stuff I need to work on. xD But for now, it's 4:11 in the morning and I need to make an attempt at sleep. 
> 
> As always, feedback is welcomed and appreciated! <3


End file.
